Possible, but unlikely in my view.
Ségolène Royal moved a step closer to becoming the first female president of France early Friday, crushing her two male rivals for the Socialist Party nomination in next April’s election.With most of the vote in, Ms. Royal, 53, a regional president and former minister, won 60.6 percent of the vote of the party’s nearly 219,000 members in an unusual primary.
Mme Royal is a fine-looking woman by French standards--a fact that she is leveraging with bikini shots, but France has two cultural dynamics and a number of national issues that argue against a victory in the presidential race.
In French presidential politics, the president embodies the soul of France. There is a certain messianic expectation of the President, a characterization as 'l'homme providentiel' (man of destiny). In the ultimate Mommy-state, the President is France's penis--its pretense at masculinity.
What may surprise a lot of Americans is that despite the socialist politics of France and Germany, they are exceptionally chauvinist societies--women serve men--sexually and in every other way. The sense of male entitlement is overwhelming. I've been in meetings where women who spoke three and four languages served coffee and biscuits to male counterparts who were idiots by comparison. This is less about men oppressing women, than a deeply entrenched culture that creates these expectations in both men AND women.
A woman as prime minister--absolutely. As president?
I sincerely doubt it.
Posted by Mick Stockinger on November 17, 2006 2:34 PM
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Comments (3)
'Mme Royal is a fine-looking woman by French standards' - what does that mean? French women are superbes. Mon dieu, contrast Mme Royal with Mme Pelosi or Mme Clinton.
You may be recall Prime Minister Edith Cresson who said "one Englishman in four is a homosexual" and said "the Japanese live like ants... (whereas the French) want to live like human beings."
I hope you're right about presidents and penises, but I doubt it. Little Sarkozy is a really interesting character and a friend of the US. You yanquees should understand that La France wants to be loved and admired by you and her coquettish tricks are to say "If you won't adore me, you'll have to notice me"
Posted by mark | November 17, 2006 4:02 PM
Posted on November 17, 2006 16:02
The best way to explain this is to describe my experience standing at a corner in a pedestrian mall in Frankfurt. It hit my like a fist--all these people look like they could be siblings (my mother is German, my father Austrian). Growing up in a North American urban environment, everyone is from somewhere else, so the phenotypic diversity is considerable and the idea of an ethnic "look" actually being a national "look" was disconcerting.
The French look "French" and Mme Royal is a fine example of a handsome French woman--not my taste, but to each his own (Audrey Tautou however is a notable exception).
I suppose the French will have to get used to disappointment. Its seems the only way France can get any attention these days is through bad behavior. Culturally, France has been replaced by Japan, Italy and the Hispanosphere. Economically its a not even a speed-bump. Some northeastern liberal elites may still hold a torch for the old broad, but no else really cares.
Posted by Mick Stockinger | November 18, 2006 8:41 PM
Posted on November 18, 2006 20:41
Audrey Tautou I'd say is 'gamine'.
France has a trump .. its human and physical geographies.
I'm taking 2 of my elder daughters to Paris soon. It's a 2.5 hour train ride from London. We'll stay near the Pere Lachaise cemetary..Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Chopin, Callas...
I know what you mean about phenotypes.. mongrel me married to a Nordic goddess.
Posted by mark adams | November 19, 2006 5:14 AM
Posted on November 19, 2006 05:14